Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-06-02

/ Turkish funeral Rites.
| If a Turk dies, or looks as If he were
dead, no physician. no Inspector comes
to make sure that death has really TAX
en- place; but if Il has not. the fact will
soon be established, thanks to . pro-
cedure more efficient than all the gentle
and refined means In vogue in the
West to make sure that the deceased
is not hoaxing his heirs.
Scarcely has the last breath been
taken when the corpse is lifted up vio-
lently by vigorous arms, says Emile
Julliard in the Cosmopolitan. the cloth
ing snatched of, laid on the flag stones
in the mortuary chamber or vestibple
and besprinkled with hot water, which
is thrown upon it by the imam, pro-
}, vided with large pail. The sprink-
ling is repeated two or three times, so
that the family run little danger Of see
ing the deceased resuscitated.
Thus scalded as preliminary step
the body is washed and dried. Then
it is bepowdered with camphor, and
after being covered with q cloth en-
broidered with verses from the Koran,
1T is exposed for several hours in the
courtyard. Afteward the imam re-
turns and accompanies the corpse to its
last resting place.
The fiat, covered bier is usually car
ried on the shoulders Of friends OF the
deceased, or upon those Of hired pail
bearers. Sometimes strangers assume
this duty gratuitously, looking upon it
as pious and meritorious act. The
cortege is made up only Of those that
carry the coffin by turns, thus reliev-
ing one another without stopping.
The coffin is made Of cedar, and It is
seldom vanished. but it is covered
with rug or shawl, and there is pIac-
ed at the head q turban or fez il the
deceased is male.
The procession always moves hastily,
not sor the purpose of getting rid Of the
dismal burden, but to hasten the mo-
ment when deceased shall enjoy etern-
al repose; for the Mussnlman believes
that the soul is restless and unhappy
as long as the corpse is unburied. This
is why three or four hours only elapse
between death and burial.
On arriving az the cemetery the
imam SO places the bier. that the face
of the deceased is turned toward Mecca;
he then approaches the brink of the
srff
the conclusion of which is as follows:
"Draw near, Mounkir and Nakir, an
gels of death and ministers of Allah.
Great and blessed Go'i we humbly be-
seech thee to make the earth light for
| thy servant. May he find grace and
mercy with thee. Amen" A Chris
tian prayer does not say anything more
nor any better.
According to the Koran, the ..deceas-
ed is the owner of his grave in perpetu-
ity, aud the Objectionable system Of
sepulture in rotation is unknown to the
Mussulmans; and in Constantinople,
in Eyoub aud Scutari. the room occu-
pied by cemeteries ia almost rs extern
siye as that covered by dw elliAgs.
| Within recent years 1t has been found
necessary, in order to open roads that
have been much needed. to curtail and
even suppress some of the cemeteries,
but it required an extreme order from
1 the Sultan, which made the uiemas
utter wall OF blgota.
| The cypress is pre-eminently the
funeral tree. Each tomb has to have
its own. And Turkish cemeteries be-
come gloomy forests in time. which
impart to certain Oriental Landscapes
an aspect singularly stiff and somber.
1t is upon the seashore that these for
ests are found in greatest abundance;
the trees, being nourished by the soil
fertilized by human remains, reach q
prodigious size and height. The larg-
est and most celebrated of these ceme-
teries is that of Scutari. upon the Ash
attic coast Of the Bosphorus; it extends
over an area more than six miles
square.
The tomb stones are In the shape Of
an oval, wider at the top than at the
J bottom, and surmounted with turban
: or fez, the form Of which, varying
greatly, indicates the rank of the de-
: ceased. A gilt inscription in Turkish
: characters, cut in relief on a blue back
/. ground, gives the name and enumer-
I ates the virtues OF the deceased and
q implores divine mercy in his behalf.
, These stones are sometimes perpendic-
( ular, sometimes leaning very much.
] In the latter case hole is dug at the
D base of the tomb, intended to catch
e rain for the little birds that come ia
: quench their thirst.
The dead are not buried very deep
+ and it is strange that the custom does
v not cause more sickness than 1t does.
n A large portion of the epidemics o.
d dysentery and typhoid fever that in
d wade the low quarters OF Constantine.
Ia pie can be traced to this custom. The
II proximity of the cadavers to the top O
% the ground produce during the summel
nights, particularly in swampy and
st damp cemeteries, myriad Of phns
If phetic lights, which dance and iii
.. around the tomb, and those myriad
1t sparks Of fire, while inspiring the poets
also ffighten the children.